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Exhibit (9)(b)
MASTER TRANSFER AND RECORDKEEPING AGREEMENT
AGREEMENT made as of the ___ day of 1997, by and between THE RIVERFRONT
FUNDS (the "Fund"), having its principal place of business at 0000 Xxxxxxx Xxxx,
Xxxxxxxx, Xxxx 00000, and THE PROVIDENT BANK ("Provident") having its principal
place of business at Xxx Xxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxx, Xxxx 00000.
WITNESSETH THAT
WHEREAS, the Fund desires Provident to perform certain services for the
Fund and each of its Portfolios and Provident is willing to perform such
services.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants herein set
forth, each party agrees as follows:
1. SERVICES - Provident shall perform for the Fund and each Portfolio
of the Fund the services set forth on Exhibit A which is attached hereto and
made a part hereof. Provident shall also perform for each Portfolio of the Fund,
without additional charge, any services which it customarily performs in the
ordinary course of business without additional charge for any investment
companies for which Provident acts as transfer agent, divided disbursing agent
or shareholder servicing and recordkeeping agent.
Provident shall perform such other services in addition to those set
forth in Exhibit A hereto as the Fund shall request in writing. Any of the
services to be performed hereunder, and the manner in which such services are to
be performed, shall be changed only pursuant to a written agreement signed by
the parties hereto.
Provident will undertake no activity which, in its judgment, will
adversely affect the performance of its obligations to the Fund under this
Agreement.
2. FEES - The Fund shall pay Provident for the services set forth in
Section 1 of this Agreement in accordance with and in the manner set forth in
Exhibit B which is attached hereto and made a part hereof.
3. EFFECTIVE DATE - This Agreement shall become effective as
of the date set forth above.
4. TERM - This Agreement shall be in effect until terminated
in accordance with Section 16 hereof.
5. USE OF PROVIDENT'S NAME - The Fund will not use Provident's name in
any sales literature or other material in a manner not approved by Provident in
writing before such use, unless a similar such use was previously approved.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Provident hereby consents to all uses of
Provident's name which merely refer in accurate terms to Provident's
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name which merely refer in accurate terms to Provident's appointments hereunder
or which are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission or a state
securities commission, and, provided further, that in no case will such
approval be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
6. STANDARD OF CARE - Provident shall at all times use its best efforts
and act in good faith and in a non-negligent manner in performing all services
pursuant to this Agreement.
7. UNCONTROLLABLE EVENTS - Provident shall not be liable for damage,
loss of data, delays or errors occurring by reason of circumstances beyond its
control including, but not limited to, acts of civil or military authority,
national emergencies, fire, flood or catastrophe, acts of God, insurrection,
war, riots or failure of transportation, communication or power supply. However,
Provident shall keep in a separate and safe place additional copies of all
records required to be maintained pursuant to this Agreement or additional tapes
or discs necessary to reproduce all such records. Furthermore, at all times
during this Agreement, Provident shall maintain an arrangement whereby Provident
will have a backup computer facility available for its use in providing the
services required hereunder in the event circumstances beyond Provident's
control result in Provident not being able to process the necessary work at its
principal computer facility. Provident shall, from time to time, upon request
from the Fund provide written evidence and details of its arrangement for
obtaining the use of such a backup computer facility. Provident shall use
reasonable care to minimize the likelihood of all damage, loss of data, delays
and errors resulting from an uncontrollable event, and should such damage, loss
of data, delays or errors occur, Provident shall use its best efforts to
mitigate the effects of such occurrence. Representatives of the Fund shall be
entitled to inspect Provident's premises and operating capabilities within
reasonable business hours and upon reasonable notice to Provident.
8. INDEMNIFICATION - The Fund shall indemnify and hold Provident, its
employees and agents harmless against any losses, claims, damages, judgments,
liabilities or expenses (including reasonable counsel fees and expenses)
resulting from (1) transactions which occurred prior to the date Provident began
serving as Transfer Agent to the Fund; (2) action taken or permitted by
Provident in good faith with due care and without negligence in reliance upon
instructions received from the Fund in accordance with Section 9 hereof or with
respect to the Fund, upon the opinion of counsel for the Fund, as to anything
arising in connection with its performance under this Agreement or which arises
out of the Fund's lack of good faith or willful misconduct; (4) the sale of
shares in violation of any requirement of federal or state securities laws; or
(5) any act done or suffered by Provident with respect to the Fund in good faith
with due care and without negligence in connection with its performance under
this
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Agreement in reliance upon any instruction, order, stock certificate or other
instrument reasonably believed by it to be genuine and to bear the genuine
signature of any person or persons authorized to sign, countersign or execute
same, and which complies with all applicable requirements of the Fund's current
prospectus and statement of additional information, this Agreement and
instructions (it being specifically agreed that, for the purpose of this
indemnification, if any instruction received by Provident in accordance with
Section 9 hereof differs from the requirements set forth in the current
prospectus or statement of additional information then, with regard to that
difference, Provident need only comply with such instruction and not the current
prospectus or statement of additional information) and other governing documents
provided to Provident by the Fund. In the event Provident requests the Fund to
indemnify or hold it harmless hereunder, Provident shall use its best efforts to
inform the Fund of the relevant facts concerning the matter in question.
Provident shall use reasonable care to identify and promptly notify the Fund
concerning any matter which Provident believes may result in a claim for
indemnification against the Fund, and shall notify the Fund within seven days of
notice to Provident of the filing of any suit or other legal action or the
institution by a government agency of any administrative action or investigation
against Provident which involves its duties under this Agreement. The Fund shall
have the election of defending Provident against any claim with respect to the
Fund which may be the subject of indemnification or holding harmless hereunder.
In the event the Fund so elects, it will so notify Provident and thereupon the
Fund shall take over defense of the claim and, if so requested by the Fund,
Provident shall incur no further legal or other expenses related thereto for
which it shall be entitled to indemnity or holding harmless hereunder; provided,
however, that nothing herein contained shall prevent Provident from retaining
counsel to defend any claim at Provident's own expense. Except with the prior
written consent of the Fund, Provident shall in no event confess any claim or
make any compromise in any matter in which the Fund will be asked to indemnify
or hold Provident harmless hereunder. Provident shall be without liability to
the Fund with respect to anything done or omitted to be done, in accordance with
the terms of this Agreement or instructions properly received pursuant hereto,
if done in good faith and without negligence or willful or wanton misconduct,
and in no event shall Provident be liable for consequential damages, lost
profits, or other special damages, even if Provident has been informed of the
possibility of such damage or loss by the Fund or by third parties.
Notwithstanding the forgoing, Provident shall be liable to the Fund for any
damage or losses suffered by the Fund as a result of a delay or negligence on
the part of Provident in processing a purchase or liquidation transaction or in
making payment to a shareholder of the Fund; it being agreed that, without in
any way limiting Provident's liability for other transactions hereunder, such
damages shall not be deemed to be consequential or special.
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9. INSTRUCTIONS - Provident shall comply with all instructions issued
by the Fund in the form prescribed below which are permitted or required under
Exhibit A attached hereto. Wherever Provident takes action hereunder pursuant to
instructions from the Fund, Provident shall be entitled to rely upon such
instructions only when such instructions are signed by the President or
Treasurer of the Fund or by an individual designated in writing by the President
or Treasurer as a person authorized to give instructions hereunder. The Fund may
waive the requirement that all instructions be in writing, if such waiver
defines the occurrences not requiring written instruction, indicates the persons
authorized to give such non-written instructions, and is signed by one of the
persons pursuant to the immediately preceding sentence of this Section 9. In the
event Provident obtains the Fund's written waiver, it may rely on non-written
instructions received pursuant thereto.
10. CONFIDENTIALITY - Provident agrees to treat all records and other
information relative to the Fund and the Fund's shareholders confidentially, and
Provident on behalf of itself and its employees agrees to keep confidential all
such information, except, after prior notification to and approval by the Fund,
which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld and may not be withheld where
Provident may be exposed to civil or criminal contempt proceedings, when
requested to divulge such information by duly constituted authorities or when so
requested by a shareholder of the Fund seeking information about his own or an
appropriately related account.
11. REPORTS - Provident will furnish to the Fund and to properly
authorized auditors, examiners, investment companies, dealers, salesmen,
insurance companies, transfer agents, registrars, investors and others
designated by the Fund in writing, such reports at such times as are prescribed
for each service on Exhibit A attached hereto.
12. RIGHT OF OWNERSHIP - Provident agrees that all records and other
data received, computed, developed, used and/or stored pursuant to this
Agreement are the exclusive property of the Fund and that all such records and
other data will be furnished without additional charge to the Fund in available
machine readable data form immediately upon termination of this Agreement with
respect to the Fund for any reason whatsoever. Furthermore, upon the Fund's
request at any time or times while this Agreement is in effect, Provident shall
deliver to the Fund at the Fund's expense any or all of the data and records
held by Provident pursuant to this Agreement in the form as requested by the
Fund. On the effective date of termination of this Agreement or, if later, on
the date the Fund ceases to use Provident's services, Provident will promptly
return to the Fund any and all records and other data belong to the Fund free of
any claim or retention of rights by Provident.
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13. REDEMPTION OF SHARES - The parties hereto agree that Provident
shall process liquidations, redemptions or repurchases of shares of the Fund, as
the agent for the Fund, in the manner described in the then current prospectus
and statement of additional information for the Fund. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, Provident shall be liable for any losses, damages, claims or expenses
resulting from Provident's failure to obtain the appropriate signature guarantee
with regard to any redemption or transfer processed by Provident unless
Provident is authorized in writing by the Fund to waive such a requirement.
14. SUBCONTRACTING - The Fund may require that Provident or Provident
may, with the prior written consent of the Fund, subcontract with one or more of
its affiliates or other persons to perform all or part of its obligations
hereunder, provided, however, that, notwithstanding any such subcontract,
Provident shall be fully responsible to the Fund hereunder.
15. ASSIGNMENT - This Agreement and the rights and duties hereunder
shall not be assignable by Provident or the Fund except by the specific written
consent of the other party.
16. TERMINATION - This Agreement may be terminated by Provident or not
less than 180 days prior written notice to the Fund on by the Fund on not less
than 90 days prior written notice to Provident. Upon such termination, Provident
will use its best efforts to cooperate and assist in accomplishing a timely,
efficient and accurate conversion to the person or firm which will provide the
services described hereunder. This Agreement may be terminated by the Fund
without the payment of any penalty, forfeiture, compulsory buyout amount or
performance of any other obligation which could deter termination, provided,
however, that for the purpose of this Section any amount due under Section 2 of
this Agreement which is undisputed is not considered a penalty, forfeiture,
compulsory buyout amount or performance of any other obligation which could
deter termination.
This Agreement may be terminated by the Fund after written notice to
Provident by the Fund if there is a material breach or violation of this
Agreement or if Provident fails to perform any of its obligations under this
Agreement and the failure continues for more than thirty (30) days after the
Fund gives notice of the failure to Provident or bankruptcy or insolvency
proceedings of any nature are instituted by or against Provident.
17. INSURANCE - Provident shall maintain throughout the term of this
Agreement a fidelity bond(s) in an amount in excess of the minimum amount
required to be obtained by the Fund pursuant to Rule 17g-1 under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act") covering the acts of its officers,
employees or agents in performing any and all of the services required to be
performed hereunder. Provident agrees to promptly notify the Fund in writing
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of any material amendment or cancellation of such bond(s) and Provident shall at
such times as the Fund may request, but at least once each year, notify the Fund
of any claims made pursuant to such bond(s).
18. AMENDMENT - This Agreement may be amended at any time by an
instrument in writing executed by both Provident and the Fund, or each of their
respective successors, provided that any such amendment will conform to the
requirements set forth in the 1940 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.
19. NOTICE - Any notice shall be sufficiently given when sent by
registered or certified mail to a party at the address of such party set forth
above or at such other address as such party may from time to time specify in
writing to the other party.
20. SECTION HEADINGS - Section headings are included for con-
venience only and are not to be used to construe or interpret this
Agreement.
21. INTERPRETIVE PROVISIONS - In connection with the operation of this
Agreement, Provident and the Fund may agree from time to time on such provisions
interpretive of or in addition to the provisions of this Agreement as may in
their combined opinions be consistent with the general tenor of this Agreement.
Furthermore, Provident and the Fund may agree to add to, delete from or change
the services set forth on Exhibit A to this Agreement. Each such interpretive or
additional provision, and each addition, deletion or change is to be signed by
the parties and annexed hereto, and no such provision, addition, deletion or
change shall contravene any applicable federal or state law or regulation and no
such provision, addition, deletion or change shall be deemed to be an amendment
of any provision of this Agreement with the exception of Exhibit A hereto.
22. GOVERNING LAW - This Agreement shall be governed by and
its provisions shall be construed in accordance with the Laws of
the State of Ohio.
23. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY OF THE TRUSTEES AND SHAREHOLDERS - The
Riverfront Funds is a business trust organized under Chapter 1746, Ohio Revised
Code and under a Declaration of Trust, to which reference is hereby made and a
copy of which is on file at the Office of the Secretary of State of Ohio as
required by law, and to any and all amendments thereto so filed or hereafter
filed. The obligations of "The Riverfront Funds" entered into in the name or on
behalf thereof by any of the Trustees, officers, employees or agents are made
not individually, but in such capacities, and are not binding upon any of the
Trustees, officers, employees, agents or shareholders of the Fund personally,
but bind only the assets of the Fund, as set forth in Section 1746.13(A), Ohio
Revised Code, and all persons dealing with any of the Portfolios of the Fund
must
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look solely to the assets of the Fund belonging to such Portfolio for the
enforcement of any claims against the Fund.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be
duly executed all as of the day and year first above written.
THE PROVIDENT BANK
By:
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(name) (title)
THE RIVERFRONT FUNDS
By:
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(name) (title)
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EXHIBIT A - SERVICES
The services provided for in this Agreement shall be performed by
Provident or any agent appointed by Provident pursuant to Section 14 of this
Agreement under the name of The Provident Bank (Provident) and this name or any
similar name or logo will not be used by Provident or its agents for any
purposes other than those related to this Agreement or to any other agreement
which Provident may enter into with the Fund or with companies affiliated with
the Fund.
The offices of Provident shall be open to perform the services pursuant
to this Agreement on all days when the Fund is open to transact business.
Provident will perform all services normally provided to investment
companies such as the Fund and the quality of such services shall be equal to or
better than that provided to the other investment companies serviced by
Provident. With respect to the Fund, by way of illustration, but not limitation,
these services will include:
1. Establishing, maintaining, safeguarding and reporting on
shareholder account information and account histories,
(including registration, name and address recorded in
generally accepted form, dealer, representative, branch,
and territory information, mailing address, distribution
address, various codes and specific information relating
to (if applicable); level payments, letters of intent,
insured redemption plans, account groupings for rights of
accumulation discount processing, and for account group
reporting for plan accounts and other accounts grouped
for master sub-account reporting).
2. Recording and controlling shares outstanding in
certificate ("issued") and non certificate ("unissued")
form.
3. Maintaining a record for each certificate issued to include
certificate number, account number, issued date, number of
shares, cancelled date or stop date, where appropriate.
4. Reconciling the number of outstanding shares of the Fund
on a daily basis with the Fund and the Fund's custodian,
promptly correcting any differences noted.
5. Establishing and maintaining a trade file on behalf of
the Fund based on trade information furnished to the
transfer agent by the Fund or its distributors.
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6. Accepting and processing direct cash investments however
received and investing such investments promptly in
shareholder accounts.
7. Passing upon the adequacy of documents properly endorsed
and guaranteed submitted by or on behalf of a shareholder
to transfer ownership or redeem shares.
8. Transferring ownership of shares upon the books of each
Fund.
9. Redeeming shares and preparing and mailing redemption
checks or wire proceeds as instructed.
10. Preparing and promptly mailing account statements to the
shareholder or such other authorized address and, when
appropriate, as instructed by the Fund, to the dealer or
dealer branch, whenever transaction activity effecting share
balances are posted to the Fund's accounting that is of the
type that should receive such statement.
11. Checking surrendered certificates for stop transfer
instructions.
12. Cancelling certificates surrendered.
13. Issuing certificates as replacements for those cancelled,
or as an original issue of additional shares or upon the
reduction of an equal number of unissued shares.
14. Maintaining and updating a stop transfer file, promptly
placing stop transfer codes upon notification of possible
loss, destruction or disappearance of a certificate. Upon
receipt of proper documentation obtaining necessary insurance
forms and issuing replacement certificates.
15. Balancing outstanding shares of record with the custodian
prior to each distribution and calculating and paying or
reinvesting distributions to shareholders of record and to
open trade receivables and free stock.
16. Processing exchanges of shares of the Fund or Portfolio
for another, calculating proper sales charges and
collecting fees as required.
17. Processing level payment liquidations according to plan
instructions.
18. Reporting to the Fund and its custodian daily the capital
stock activities and dollar amount of transactions.
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19. Promptly answering inquiring from shareholders, dealers, Fund
personnel, and others as requested in accordance with the
terms of this Agreement as to account matters, referring
policy or investment matters to the Fund.
20. Mailing reports and special mailings, as directed by the
Fund to all shareholders or selected holders or dealers.
21. Providing services with regard to the annual or special
meetings of the Fund, including preparation and timely mailing
of proxy material to shareholders of record and others as
directed by the Fund, and receiving, examining and recording
all properly executed proxies and performing such follow-up as
required by the Fund.
22. Providing periodic listings and tallies of shareholder
votes and certifying the final tally.
23. Providing an inspector of elections at the annual or any
special meeting of the Fund.
24. Maintaining tax information for each account, deducting
amounts where required and furnishing to the Fund, its
shareholders, dealers and, when appropriate, regulatory
bodies, the necessary tax information all in compliance with
the various applicable laws.
25. Maintaining records of account and distribution
information for checks and confirmations returned as
undeliverable by the Post Office.
26. Maintaining records and reporting sales information for
Blue Sky reporting purposes.
27. Calculating and processing Fund mergers or stock
dividends, as directed by the Fund.
28. Maintaining all Fund records as outlined in the record
and tape retention schedule delivered by the Fund.
29. Reconciling all investment, distribution and redemption
accounts.
30. Providing for the replacement of uncashed distribution or
redemption checks.
31. Maintaining and safeguarding an inventory of unissued
blank stock certificates, checks and other Fund records.
32. Making available to the Fund and its distributors at
their locations, CRTS which will provide immediate
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electronic access to computerized records maintained for
the Fund.
33. Providing space and such technical expertise as may be
required to enable the Fund and its properly authorized
auditors, examiners and others designated by the Fund in
writing to properly understand and examine all books, records,
computer files, microfilm and other items maintained pursuant
to this Agreement, and to assist as required in such
examination.
34. Mailing prospectuses to existing accounts on receipt of
the first direct investment transaction after a new
prospectus has been issued by the Fund.
35. Mailing cash election notices when required prior to
capital gains distributions.
36. Maintaining information, performing the necessary research and
producing reports required to comply with all applicable state
escheat or abandoned property laws.
With respect to each Portfolio of the Fund, the Transfer Agent will
produce reports as requested by the Fund including but not limited to the
following:
Shareholder Account Confirmation As required
Redemption Checks When redemption
is made
Certificates When requested
Level payment checks On payment cycle
Distribution checks As required
Name and address labels (per As requested
account registration)
Proxy When required
1099 Annually
1042-S Annually
Transaction journals Daily
Record date position control Daily
Daily and (monthly) cash proof Daily
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Daily (monthly) share proof Daily
Daily master control Daily
Blue Sky exception Daily
Blue Sky master list Monthly and whenever
a new permit is issued
by a state
Blue Sky sales reports Cycle as designated
in advance by
distributor
Check register Daily
Account information reports When requested
(Monthly) Cumulative Transaction Monthly
New account list Monthly
Shareholder master list When requested
Sales by State Monthly
Activities statistics Monthly
Distribution journals As required
Proxy tallies and vote listings When requested
Level payment account check Monthly
reconciliation
Dividend account check As required
reconciliation
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EXHIBIT B
Dated: ____________, 1997
THE PROVIDENT BANK
Transfer and Recordkeeping Fee Schedule
ANNUAL ACCOUNT SERVICE FEE - PER FUND TYPE
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MONEY MARKET - $24,000 annual minimum, includes the first 500 accounts.
Open accounts over 500, $24.00 per year per account.
*Closed accounts $12.00 per year.
MONTHLY DIVIDEND - $20,000 annual minimum, includes the first 500
accounts.
Open accounts over 500, $20.00 per year per account.
*Closed accounts $10.00 per year.
ALL OTHERS - $18,000 annual minimum, includes the first 500 accounts.
Open accounts over 500, $18.00 per year per account.
*Closed accounts $9.00 per year.
Fees are billed on a monthly basis at the rate of 1/12 of the annual fee. A
charge is made for an account in the month that an account opens.
MULTIPLE CLASSES OF SHARES
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Classes of shares which have a different net asset value or pay different daily
dividends will be treated as separate classes, and the fee schedule above,
including the appropriate minimums, will be charged for each separate class.
RETIREMENT PLAN ACCOUNTS
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Retirement fees will be charged as follows:
If Paid If Paid by
by Advisor Account
Setup/Termination $ 5.00 $10.00
Transfer Out $15.00 $30.00
Annual Fee $10.00 $20.00
FUND SERV/NSCC PROCESSING
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Mutual Fund Transaction - Monthly Charge .70/Item
(Minimum $250 and a Fund Family Maximum of $750)
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*CLOSED ACCOUNTS
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Accounts are considered closed accounts the month after closing through June of
the following year.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
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Extraordinary services, special reports or customized processing may be subject
to additional fees, which will be quoted upon request.
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES
----------------------
The Provident Bank shall be entitled to be reimbursed for all reasonable
out-of-pocket expenses including, but not limited to, the expenses set forth.
REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES
The Provident Bank shall be entitled to be reimbursed for all reasonable
out-of-pocket expenses including, but not limited to the following:
- Postage and insurance
- Overnight delivery service
- Duplicating charges
- Fax charges
- Out of country or excessive telephone calls
- Hardware, software, telephone charges if inquiry access is
requested
- Supplies
- Special 800 number
- Checks or share drafts if a fund has check writing privileges
- Cash Management Service Charges
-Checks Deposited
-Checks Returned
-Incoming Wire Transfers
-Outgoing Wire Transfers
-ACH Items Received
-ACH Items Originated
-Checks Paid
-Stop Payments
- Any expense The Provident Bank shall incur at the written
direction of an officer of the Fund
THE PROVIDENT BANK THE RIVERFRONT FUNDS
By By
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(name) (title) (name) (title)
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